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House of Tomorrow
One of an extremely limited number of demonstration homes built to showcase technology developed at Big Mountain, West Tek, and other firms. They were models representing a dream of a post-scarcity society, but the Great War destroyed that dream and most of the showcases. One survived, however, tucked away on the campus of UT-Dallas. Amidst the horror of Four Seasons it is a shining idol to past glories and a deadly trap governed by a malign intelligence. History Beginning in 2075, a consortium of university research centers joined together to develop a Utopian technology. Naturally, a Utopian society would be a post-market society, and so their private financiers altered the scheme while keeping the core intact. The homes would be giant, fusion powered, molecular rearrangement engines; the inhabitants would be able to change the wallpaper, carpet, or wood grains to suit their fancy and use the appliances to generate whatever they might need or want. The compromise that preserved private enterprise was the need for specialized tokens to provide the necessary matter, and the need to lease designs and patterns for the engines to use. Though a civilization of people living in these homes would have little need for a traditional service economy, they would still need to work to get what they wanted and to develop new products; so the corporate interests were banking on. The project faced immediate delays in the form of Congressional hearings. Concerns were raised over the possibility of using the generators to create such contraband as dope and explosives, of minors using them to generate alcohol and tobacco, the possibility of cloning life, and other safety concerns. Rigorous standards were put in place, and private use was not approved until thorough testing had been done. The House of Tomorrow was built as a controlled testing ground for the concerns raised, with construction completed in the latter half of 2077, just in time for the Great War. Its sibling houses built in other areas of the United States were obliterated, but the one in Dallas survived mostly intact. The house stood in a dilapidated state for years. Fifty years after the war, its computers were remotely accessed, and its engines started up; absorbing nearby debris to fuel its repairs until it exactly resembled its pre-war state. Its beauty and flawless construction proved to be irresistible to prospectors and those seeking a home, and many entered the home. In one hundred and fifty years, none has ever left. Inhabitants Nobody lives in the House of Tomorrow, but it is not devoid of life or humanity. There is a malign intelligence, present throughout much of Four Seasons that pays close attention to the House of Tomorrow; which it regards as a honeypot to trap humans in. After the Great War, the house and its furnishings were wrecked; though the intelligence prompted the House to use its own wreckage to rebuild itself, the house was left empty in the process. The intelligence removed all the safety features of the engines, and so each prospector that has entered to scavenge or camp has been rendered down to base atoms and used to recreate the mid-century modern furnishings and artwork, to restock the pantry with radiation-free foodstuffs, and to fill its reservoir with clean water. Many of the first explorers were disassembled within moments of entry, but as the house was increasingly restored to Pre-War glory, it has waited longer and longer before murdering its guests. Whatever governs its behavior especially enjoys toying with groups; rendering them down one by one. If they stick together, it's not above generating some bit of desired loot to draw them away from each other. If at any given time the house and its furnishing are in pristine order, and its stock of base matter is full, it will create a robot of some kind to unleash it to wander Four Seasons, maintaining the robot population. Category:Places Category:Sites Category:Texas Category:Pre-War Tech